The most common way to use a transistor as an amplifier is in an electronic circuit sometimes called a common-emitter circuit because the emitter is connected to ground, which means that both the input[more…]

A transistor within an electronic circuit works like a combination of a diode and a variable resistor, also called a potentiometer or pot. But this isn't just an ordinary pot; it's a magic pot whose knob[more…]

One of the most common uses for transistors in an electronic circuit is as simple switches. In short, a transistor conducts current across the collector-emitter path only when a voltage is applied to the[more…]

In this project, you build an electronic circuit that uses a transistor to switch on an LED using a current that's much smaller than the LED current. When you close the switch, both LEDs light up. However[more…]

An oscillator is an electronic circuit that generates repeated waveforms. The exact waveform generated depends on the type of circuit used to create the oscillator. One of the most commonly used oscillator[more…]

You've probably heard of Moore’s law, an electronics statement which in a nutshell predicts that the number of transistors that can be placed on a single integrated circuit doubles about every two years[more…]

An integrated circuit (also called an IC or just a chip) is an entire electronic circuit consisting of multiple individual components such as transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and the conductive[more…]

You don’t have to know how integrated circuits (IC) are made to use them in your electronics projects, but the process is pretty interesting The process is complex and varies depending on the type of chip[more…]

A flip-flop is an electronic circuit that alternates between two output states. In a flip-flop, a short pulse on the trigger causes the output to go high and stay high, even after the trigger pulse ends[more…]

The output pin (pin 3) of an electronic 555 timer circuit can be in one of two states: high and low. In the high state, the voltage at the pin is close to the supply voltage. The low state is 0 V.[more…]

It turns out that there are many uses for two (or more) 555 timers in a single electronic circuit — useful enough that you can get two 555 timers in a single chip, called the 556 dual-timer chip. The 556[more…]

In this project, you build an electronic circuit that uses a 555 timer chip in monostable mode. When a trigger switch is pressed, an LED lights and stays lit for approximately five seconds. Then, the LED[more…]

In this project, you build an electronic circuit that uses a 555 timer chip to alternately flash two LEDs on and off. Then, you modify the circuit so that the circuit is controlled by two pushbuttons that[more…]

An op amp is a super-sensitive electronic amplifier circuit that’s designed to amplify the difference of two input voltages. Thus, an op amp has two inputs and one output. The output voltage is often tens[more…]

The modern operational amplifier dates way back to the early days of electronics history. Specifically, the op amp was first created in the 1930s, when Bell Telephone was just starting to run telephone[more…]

As its name suggests, one of the most basic electronic uses of an op amp is as an amplifier. If you connect an input source to one of the input terminals and ground the other input terminal, an amplified[more…]

If you read about op amps on the web or in an electronics book, you’ll undoubtedly come across the term ideal op amp.An ideal op amp is a hypothetical op amp with certain characteristics that real op amps[more…]